I have never tried any goldens but I am very interested in them. I have never seen wild currants here mainly thimbleberries, raspberries and strawberries as well as ferns and some hard to choke down aronia and choke cherries. Good to know about blackdown as i do like preserves but i was hoping for fresh eating as well. What is your favorite black variety?
My main goal is something that does not get powdery mildew. Its strange that your currants grow good but don’t set well scott, I hope mine do. Drew that is a very nice looking flowering shrub / tree
Yes, and currants in general are very interesting to me. Black currants are not the best for fresh eating, but are masters of the universe when processed. I never have consumed enough water, and using black currant syrup to flavor my water has ended those days. It’s so darn good!
If you want some interesting rare fresh berries to eat. I would suggest Tayberries, New Berry blackberries, White D pineberries, Mara des Bois strawberries, Musk strawberries, and Aurora honeyberries. I’m trying other honeyberries so may have new favorites.
Golden currants produce decent black currants for fresh eating, but I still think they are best processed. Red and yellow berries are possible on golden currants and I’m interested in trying these strains.
I currently have a batch of golden currant seedlings. Well at least I think I do, it’s possible I have a batch of weeds too. I germinated them outside. They just popped up, so once true leaves form I’ll know more.
It’s raining out, but my camera is water proof. I used it and quickly took a few basic shots…
I have some in plant cells and some in an open planting. They look the same. The plant cells were in the garage all winter stratifying, the open planting was left outside all winter to stratify. Sorry the pictures suck, I don’t like this camera.
I bought some that are supposed to have yellow fruit. The currants I have now are flowering right now. I bet if you grew out seeds you could get something different. You have Crandall and Golden, they should cross too, or you could help with that.
I’m not seeing any other weeds that look like this, so I think these are currants. I should be able to tell when true leaves develop. I will grow in containers for a bit till bigger.
they are all in a row next to each other so plenty of cross pollination there. my goldens are from 2 dif. sources. might get lucky with a yellow fruited one out of the 6. should see fruit from them this season.
i also have russian currant seeds i got off eBay stratifying in the fridge. can’t pronounce the name, but its a popular currant cultivar in russia. if its the real thing it should have nickel sized black currants that produces. going to plant them next month.
If it works, I would love some of them! I can save some of these too for anybody who might want to try them. But seedlings can be low producers, one never knows. I plan to keep as many as possible to try and choose the best producing plant.
Delaware prohibist Ribes nigrum black currants. In addition, it requires the customer/importer to obtain a permit for red, white, and pink currants. It prohibits Ribes aurium (golden currant). No Gooseberries, Jostaberries or other Ribes sp. allowed.
so does Maine but not the northern counties. golden, clove, red , white ,or gooseberry which are a different species from R. nigrum are allowed. southern maine bans all of them. importing plants without a permit, are illegal but not seeds/cuttings.
same here but northern Maine we can grow/ possess other Ribes. just not R. nigrum. but yet we can’t import any live Ribes into the state without a permit. its pretty stupid.
I have had nothing but failures with blackberries, i feel its a lack of water or humidity. I cant seem to get any floricanes through winter down in the snow or hung up and im hoping PAF survives. Tayberry died. Mara Des Bois are my favorite strawberries and i have a good clump on each apple tree of a few varieties. I have only eaten one honeyberry and it was significantly better than the best blueberry i have eaten. I have large hopes for some of the newer honeyberries that will flower later (My current ones i bought 4 years ago from Berries unlimited ? and are the blue velvet etc line) they flower early here usually with asian plums but continue past my peaches and into the european plum blossom season.
Im excited to have a processing berry in there time frame (My thought was early July similar to sour cherries).
I love berries. yes I barely keep alive New Berry and Tayberry, also wyeberry. All struggle here, but I can get some each year, and some years I have lot’s If I can cover them well, I have good crops.
